As I Lay Dying
by H. S. Hines
Summary: It's all over and all that's left is to say good-bye.


_Disclaimer: Rumiko Takahashi, Viz, Sunrise, Yomiuri TV and I'm sure a bunch of other people who are not me are the owners of InuYasha and the characters within. Still, inspired to dream, inspired to write, from page and scene, it is my plight._

_Notes: This is a oneshot. And I'm sorry._

Genre: Drama  
Rating: T

_Feedback: Reviews beget more fiction! My muse is a little thin anymore, but still trying his best now and then, particularly in light of the difficulty of writing around little grabby paws._

**As I Lay Dying**

The day had started off innocently enough. I watched the sun rise with shades of pale pink and blue—nothing special. I ate a patch of berries I had found the day before for the first meal and we set out. I'd slept through some of the travel the night before, lying across Ah-un's back. I'm not sure how I woke on the ground or when Jaken had built the fire, but I had awoken warm in the softest patch of grass in the clearing. I knew it was the softest because Jaken spent all morning complaining about the root his head had been resting on.

My last meal was nothing special, either—just a river fish I caught with my bare hands. Honestly, until the last few minutes, the day had been very uneventful. It's amazing how fast things can change. How fast everything can turn around and the sun can set on life.

It is only midday as I lay dying, the sun shining down on my face one last time. It fades so fast that I close my eyes tightly and open them again, but a dark cloud is completely blocking the sun from me now. It's unfair. I should have at least had that one last warm pleasure before it was over.

A flash of white fills my vision and I look up at Sesshomaru-sama's leg. His boot has barely missed stepping on my hair. He looks down at me and his eyes go wide. Then the gold fades to red as he looks back at his opponent. Something tickles my side and I scratch it, flinching when my fingers brush the wound that is draining my life.

I hold up my hand to see and it's covered in my blood. That is what's tickling my ribs. It's getting so hard to breathe and it hurts. I can feel liquid in my breath and I know the sword must have penetrated my lungs. Every time my ribs move to breathe, it aches deep in my ribs, into my back and now there is pain starting to fill my throat.

A blinding light comes from Sesshomaru-sama and then I know the battle is over because he comes over to kneel by me. I try to warn him about the blood as he lifts me into his arms, but only a hot stream passes my lips and I know that it's my blood. The movement makes me dizzy and spots fill my vision. I blink them away and my head begins to hurt. I try to gasp, but it burns and I choke. I cough out the blood drowning me and realize Sesshomaru-sama is saying something to me. I can't hear him. I suddenly understand that I can't hear anything any more. I'm not sure how long that's been the case.

But I can see the pain in his eyes. The frantic way he looks at me—I think he doesn't want me to die. Honestly, I don't want to die, either. But if it's in his arms, then I'm not scared. He once told me that his arm was for holding a sword, not me. But here he is, holding me. Maybe it's because he has both arms now. He has room in them for me.

This isn't how I wanted to die. I wanted to die as an old lady in my bed with my lord standing by it, saying a gentle farewell. I didn't want to be in pain and I'm in a lot now. I wanted to be warm and I'm getting colder. I wanted the sun to be setting and instead, it's the middle of the day and now it's starting to rain. Sesshomaru-sama's body protects me from most of it and I watch it make his hair thick.

"Rin..." I hear his voice finally and I smile. I still can't speak and cough out more blood, feeling bad that it all lands on his white kimono. "No, Rin..." he says and I look up at his face. The rain has run from his hair down his forehead and into his eyes, then down his cheeks. If I didn't know it was impossible, it would look as though he was crying.

"Rin..." I whisper, feeling my lungs clear enough for a few words, "is glad... Sesshomaru-sama is here." I know he can't save me. His mother explained to us the last time I died that Tenseiga could only be used once.

"I cannot save you," he says and I smile at him.

"Rin knows," I answer. "Rin is not afraid." The blood is back and I can't speak anymore. The spots have turned to patches of black and I can't blink them away. Sesshomaru-sama holds me tighter as my wound pulls me closer to the end. But I fight for another moment to speak, because I still have one very important thing to say.

The pain has faded somewhat and it feels good to be held close like this. I feel as though I'm back in my mother's arms before that life was murdered. I feel safe and warm for a moment and then the pain comes back with a vengeance and I cough more blood. Sesshomaru-sama brushes it away from my face and I feel tears burn my eyes. These are things I wished he would do and now I believe he wished to do, but it takes my death to allow him the freedom.

"Sesshomaru-sama," I gasp. I cough more, but I must say it. "Please do not forget Rin," I speak my last words and his eyes close tightly and his arms close with them, holding me tight as I take my last breath.

"Do not be foolish," I hear him whisper. My heart lifts and for a moment, the dark fades and I can see him as his eyes open and meet mine. The world then grows brighter and brighter.

_**The End.**_

_A/N: I was minding my own business, watching Fushugi Yugi and for some reason, the band name "As I Lay Dying" popped into my head. And then I was watching through someone's eyes as they were doing so. I saw Sesshomaru and I knew whose eyes they were. "My Last Breath" by Evanescence was a heavy influence and I listened to much of Fallen while writing this short and "Sowing Season" by Brand New managed to poke its way in there somehow while I skipped through the rest of my library. Damnit, I killed Rin __**again**__. I __**like**__ Rin. Oh, and if you're wondering how old she is here, I was thinking still eight or nine, just after the final battle with Naraku, still just a child. And of course he'll never forget her._


End file.
